Labour MPs were yesterday said to have 'crucified' the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, over his plans for reform of the House of Lords.

Many Labour MPs have been angered by plans for reform of the upper chamber that would result in only 120 elected members compared to around 480 appointees. "The legislation is likely to be one hell of a big row," one MP told the FT.

The Guardian reports that the Conservatives may outflank Labour by suggesting that up to 80 per cent of members should be elected.

MPs debate the plans today, but in the Lords yesterday Irvine defended the proposals, arguing that 120 elected members "is simply the maximum we can contemplate today...after a period of years it will be right to revisit the composition issue".

"Your lordships should be in no doubt that the removal of the remaining 92 is unfinished business for the government," he added.

The Conservative leader in the Lords, Lord Strathclyde, described the white paper as "a nonsense" and called the government's efforts a "ghastly charade".

He described the government's plans as "a miserable hybrid, with the weakest and least independent form of democracy imaginable" and accused ministers of removing Lord Wakeham's key reforms.Liberal Democrat peers' leader, Baroness Williams of Crosby, backed an elected Upper House, arguing other countries had two elected chambers of government and managed to get business done. "What we who seek reform of the House of Lords most want, is to see greater strength in the House of Commons, not less, to complement what it does to help and support it scrutinise legislation in the most effective possible way."